Post Malone: the songwriter Austin Post continues to make waves with his song Rockstar. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Austin Post continues the ‘Rockstar’ climb on the US chart as the songwriter benefits from a clever YouTube monetisation hack

It’s often been said that YouTube doesn’t value artists. The platform has built itself on the DMCA Safe Harbor provisions and pays one of the lowest streaming rates in music. But that doesn’t mean it can’t still be a useful tool.

This week, Austin Post continues to make waves with his song Rockstar, due in part to a clever YouTube ‘hack’ by Republic Records. The label uploaded the track to Youtube on September 21st, except it wasn’t the full track. What they uploaded was a three-minute-thirty-eight-second loop of the chorus. The thing is, even though you cannot hear Rockstar in its entirety, each play still counts towards its ranking on the Billboard Hot 100 and other industry metrics.

Due in part to this play for better monetization, (If you want to hear the full track, you have to use another service which pays the rights-holders more favorably) Austin Post continues his ascent through the ranks of today’s Hot Hitmakers, coming in at No 4 this week.

Every track charting on the UK’s Official Singles Chart for the week is given a point value, which is then split equally among the songwriters listed for each, and then ranked in order of those totals.

The Hot Hitmakers chart is repurposed with kind permission of Royalty Exchange, the online music royalties marketplace.